Tag Archives: cormorant

Spring Equinox

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Clear skies. Variable North-East to South-East winds.
Waning gibbous moon, only one low day-time tide (~1m), and 4 to 5 kt currents.

I’m a day late, but Spring has officially arrived as determined by the sun crossing over the celestial equator.
There was a lot of Harbour seals out on Middle and Turbine rocks today. The Elephant seals are on the West Rocks. The Sea lions are still out on South Rocks. There was a large group of Harlequin ducks (14) in the water off the East beach. Cormorants were arriving in the reserve all day so assume my count dramatically under-estimates their numbers. The Canada geese with the nest next to the Keeper’s house have two eggs now. None of the other pairs of Geese seem to have settled enough to have eggs. The gulls are starting to pair up and settle into nesting spots. Amazingly, there were 7 Bald Eagles in the Reserve this morning. Most of them were sitting in pairs on the tops of various rocks. They were a fairly even mix of juveniles and adults. I saw a few sandpiper-like birds, but they were too fast for me to photograph or properly identify. Judging by the smell coming from the tank shed walkway, there is still a River otter living out here. And I saw some Scoters in the mouth of Pedder Bay on my way into the college this morning.

2 Tour boats

First Day of Spring Animal Census

Steller Sea lion: 31
California Sea lion: 6
Elephant seal: 3
Harbour seal: 144
Cormorant: 54
Gull: 133
Canada Goose: 15
Harlequin duck: 17
Black turnstone: 5
Unidentified sandpiper: 3
Oyster catcher: 6
Bald eagle: 7
Savannah sparrow:4
Pigeon Guillemots: 25
River otter: 1

Off station today from 0830 to 1030 to get keys and dive gear.
-fixed sagging corner on crane deck/walkway
-checked/cleaned Science House propane cleanout

Christmas Bird Count at RR 2013

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Also-Warden’s Report for Dec 28, 2013.
Link to the Index for the past records of the Christmas Bird Counts

2013-12-28songsavan

Song Sparow on the left and Savannah Sparrow on the right of this lichen covered log on the West side of Great race Rocks..

Ecoguardian Alex Fletcher picked up Val George and myself from the Pearson College docks mid- morning and we started our count by water in Pedder Bay, then across Rocky Point, through Eemdyck Channel and then across Race Passage to Race Rocks via West Rocks and Middle Rocks. The following includes only the Race Rocks portion of the census:

Observers:  Val George, Garry Fletcher and Alex Fletcher

2013  Christmas Bird Count – Summary      Date ___Dec28___Area or Sub-Area__Race Rocks Ecological Reserve__
Observers (in field)—3 Leader Garry Fletcher
Temp—-6 Wind NE,  3.5km Time Start__10:30___a.m.   Finish___12:00__a.m.
A.M. Clear,calm partly cloudy Moving water open ocean around
for your entire count team # hours (on foot) 1.5 distance (on foot) .35km, and top of tower
Northwestern Crow 2
Common Raven 2
Thayer’s Gull 200
Canada Goose 6
Black Oystercatcher 30
Black Turnstone 14
Harlequin Duck 10
Bufflehead 8
 Song Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 20
 Common Murre 4
Pacific Loon 2
Common Loon 1
Brandt’s Cormorant 80
Double-crested Cormorant 120
Pelagic Cormorant 17
Bald Eagle  (adult) 1
Bald Eagle
(immature		 7
Total Number of Birds 528
Total Number of Species 17

last day

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Clear skies. Strong NE winds. Cold

Despite the winter weather, it is still a busy place out here in the reserve. The female elephant seals are hauled out on Middle Rock. The male Elephant seal is next to the Science House. There were lot’s of Oyster catchers, and way more Cormorants then I was expecting. There are also still quite a few Sea lions (~470) in the reserve; mostly on the South side of Great Race and South Rocks. I finally got a decent picture of a Savannah Sparrow today; and the Sandpiper stopped long enough to get a good photo so I could finally ID it.

Continue reading →

storm warning in effect!

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Light SE wind in the morning. 3ft East swell.
Midday it switched to 25 kts West.
Late afternoon it was blowing 45 kts West. With a 5ft+ West swell.

Bird Count
26 Canada Geese spent the day sheltering from the storm on Greater Race Rock
670 Adult Gulls + 96 Juvenile Gulls = 766 Gulls total
20 Oyster Catchers
136 Cormorants
I don’t know where the Turnstones and Sparrows hide during bad weather

Screenshot 2013-11-03 09.43.35

How I counted Birds: The nice thing about bad weather is that it forces all the birds to come to Greater Race Rock because of the waves surging over the outer islands. They also tend to sit in organized groups when it’s really windy. So I took photos of all the groups of birds and using a ‘cell counter’ macro in a great free program called ImageJ I counted all the birds and tallied the results.

 

[Daily Marine Conservation Link]
Sea stars up and down both coasts of North America are experience a mass die-off event now called Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. In recent years the populations of sea stars has been extremely high in the Salish Sea, and in September 2013 reports of mortality events started coming in from divers. A collaborative research effort is now underway and the Vancouver Aquarium is hoping that divers start to participate in some Citizen Science.
The Howe Sound Research and Conservation team is tracking this event by mapping observations of healthy and sick sea stars  but they need data! So if you see any sea stars while diving report it to this website

 

 

 

birds

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Morning fog. Moderate East wind. Sunny the rest of the day.
Tour boats: 4

It seems that, as the sea lions are leaving, more gulls and birds are moving onto Greater Race Rock. There have also been a lot of dense groups of gulls and diving birds on the water in and around the reserve.

The juvenile elephant seal with scabby molt (aka ‘Cranky Pants’) has returned to the boat ramp. Her skin has healed up a bit since she was last here a few weeks ago.

Kayakers next to South Rock

Kayakers next to South Rock-This kind of approach regularly scares birds and the seals and sea lions form the rocks.

-took the boston whaler in, traded it for a zodiac
-loaded the boat dolly onto Second Nature with Erik
-ran desalinator
-cleaned and scraped the zodiac
-tidied basement

Animal Notes and Census

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A few days ago we had two unusual visitors to our waters. Two Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) spent several days on Great Race and North Rocks. Brown Pelicans, though the smalles of pelicans, are enormous birds weighing up to 6 kilos and measuring up to 135 cms with a wingspan of up to 2.5 meters.

A visitor from warmer climes….

Northern vacation to Race Rocks….

We have had two other unusual visitors in the last week. I discovered a Barred Owl in the boathouse attacking a Starling (another recent arrival), and Pam our avid photographer friend from England got several pictures of Peregrine Falcons that came through hunting sparrows and starlings. Pam’s pictures can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/sets/72157628747376295/

Another tagged e-seal showed up in the boathouse yesterday.

Might as well hang out somewhere cozy…

Tagged 7225

 Animal Census Nov 8 2012

Species Current Population (Est)
Stellar/Northern Sea Lion  30
Elephant Seal  7
Harbour Seal  200
California Sea Lion  50
Glaucous-winged Gull  150
Herring Gull  300
California Gull  30
Heerman’s Gull  80
Black Turnstones  100
Surfbird  6
Pelagic Cormorants  40
Brandt’s Cormorant  30
Killdeer   6
Dunlin  16
Harlequin Ducks  20
Canada Goose  14
Bald Eagle  3
Black Oyster-catcher  40
Sanderlings  8
Starlings  8
Race Rocks Eco-Guardian  1
Rhinoceros Auklet  100
Common Murre  100
Sparrows  20
Brown Pelican  2
Barred Owl  1
Peregrine Falcon  2

 

Bird and Mammal Count

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At least 8 orcas passed by Race Rocks Sunday morning

For Sunday March 25:

Black Oyster Catcher (Haematopus bachmani): 7 pairs

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis): 3

Surfbirds (Aphriza virgata): 100+

Cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicilatu, P. pelagicus, and/or P.auritas): 200+

Gulls (mostly Larus glaucescens): 230+

Pigeon Guillemots (Cepphus columba): 30+

Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus): 5

Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) : 30+ S islands

Northern Sea Lions (Eumetopisa jubatus): 14 S islands, 1 Middle Rocks

Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris): 3 Middle Rocks, 1 Great Race

Orcas (Orcinus orca): 8 in the morning going E between S Islands and Rosedale Reef Buoy

Project Week-part 3 (final)

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Yesterday was the last day of project week, in the morning I brought students back to campus in two trips on the whaler.  It has been great group to have out here for the past week, they have helped out with several projects and tasks, endured some stormy weather, survived without a shower, cooked their own food (and shared a few good meals with me), and experienced the isolation and richness of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.  During their stay they were very conscious of the time and resources required for importing fuel and generating energy and fresh water and did a great job minimizing consumption and waste.

In the final days of the week students helped out with transferring diesel to the furnace tanks and cleaning cupboards in the science centre kitchen.  Throughout the week the group maintained a daily count of animals in the reserve, the count is included below.

 

Feb 27 Feb 28 Feb 29 Mar 1 Mar 2 Mar 3
Harbor seals 45 50 10 22 20 16
Elephant seals 2 2 2 2 2 2
Sea lions 2 5 5 5 6 6
Gulls 57 23 33 43 31 26
Cormorants 60 27 29 40 56 32
Oyster Catchers 3 5 3 6 7
Bald Eagles 1 1 1
Brown Sandpiper 4 12 8 6
White Sandpiper 5 3 4
Pigeon Guillemots 22 150
Common Mergansers 2
Harlequin Ducks 12 7 6

Thanks to the group for their contributions and good company.

 

Camera 5 working

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The remote camera on the N side of the Great Race is working now, you can access it here: www.racerocks.com/racerock/video5.htm

Note: there are 20 presets which cover all major points in a 300 degree view.

Squall has been staying around the SE side of the tower.  Misery comes and goes, the pup usually keeps out of his reach.

Yesterday there were 2 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.

Facility work: replaced toilet vent fan, replacing basement basin drain plumbing, planning composting containers.

Bird count today: 6 Harlequin ducks, 150 Cormorants, and 90 gulls.

Wind 20- 30 knots from the west all day, rainy.